Currents

Martin McCann, partner in London, joins Todd Alexander to discuss the global mining supply chain. We discuss how the global EV boom is affecting precious metal mining, the competition among countries to be top in mining and battery manufacturing, how the Inflation Reduction Act is affecting investment in mining, how car makers are taking advantage of IRA tax credits, and more.

Ep203: Transferability of Tax Credits Hilary Lefko, partner in Washington, joins Todd Alexander to discuss the transferability of tax credits. We discuss how federal transferability compares to the existing market for sales of state tax credits, how developers are taking advantage of transferability, how lenders look at it, what the market looks like for brokers, what has surprised Hilary about the market’s adoption of transferability, the timeline for the issuance of guidance and more.

Tim Byrne, Eric Daucher and Tom Delaney join Todd Alexander to discuss the formation of the bridge banks for Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and what to expect from them and government regulation going forward. We get into what will happen in terms of loans, outstanding credit arrangements and contractual obligations, the good news for depositors, how the bridge banks are backed, the effects on the Silicon Valley Bank parent company and the warrants the bank had, the outlook for tighter regulation of mid-size banks in the future, the next steps for a potential auction, and more.

Silicon Valley Bank was placed into receivership on March 10. Tim Byrne, Eric Daucher and Tom Delaney join Todd Alexander to discuss what has unfolded for Silicon Valley Bank over the weekend and what it means for the project finance community. We discuss why a bridge bank would have been set up, if there are bankruptcy concerns for investors with funds in collateral accounts, depositors’ access to funds in their accounts, what existing borrowers may experience with additional extensions of credit and what we think will happen over the next 72 hours.

Four veteran tax equity investors and lenders talk about what to expect in the year ahead. The five are Jack Cargas, managing director and head of tax equity origination, Bank of America, Ralph Cho, co-head of power & infrastructure finance - US, EU and UK, Investec Group, Rubiao Song, managing director and head of energy investments, JPMorgan, and Elizabeth Waters, managing director - project finance Americas, MUFG. The moderator is Keith Martin in Washington.

Stefan Reisinger, partner in Washington, joins us to discuss the Department of Commerce’s preliminary determination of circumvention issues. We go over the general reaction to the order, which solar panels and cells are covered by the preliminary determination, the significance for the four companies found to be circumventing, the impact the determination will have on panels that have entered before the determination was issued and more.

Katherine Blunt, who covers renewable energy and utilities for The Wall Street Journal, talks to Keith Martin in Washington about her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What it Means for America's Power Grid, on the challenges facing utilities with aging power lines in drought-stricken parts of the United States.

Five veteran Washington observers talk with Keith Martin in our Washington office about what the midterm election results mean for clean energy, storage, carbon capture, hydrogen and the project finance market. The five are Michael Catanzaro, president, CGCN group, and a former senior advisor to House Speaker John Boehner, John Gimigliano, principal-in-charge, federal tax legislative and regulatory services, KPMG, and a former House Ways and Means Committee tax counsel, Colin Hayes, partner, Lot Sixteen, and a former staff director of the Senate Energy Committee, Joe Mikrut, partner, Capitol Tax Partners, former Treasury tax legislative counsel and senior legislation counsel to the Joint Committee on Taxation, and Rob Rains, senior vice president and energy analyst, Washington Analysis.

Keith Martin, David Burton and Hilary Lefko have a lively discussion about the Inflation Reduction Act’s effect on deals. Some parts of the Inflation Reduction Act that passed the Senate are retroactive to the start of 2022. Other parts apply only to projects that are placed in service after this year. The bill is expected to clear the House this week. It will affect the tax equity market. It will affect construction and equipment procurement contracts.

Keith Martin gives a lively update on what is new in the market. The tax equity market is wrestling with a series of issues tied to inflation and construction delays. Developers forced for the same reasons to renegotiate power contracts are drawing interesting lessons. Rising electricity prices are affecting the economics of making green hydrogen, but hydrogen is coming and may prove more disruptive than appeared even a year ago.